In April 2008, he was joined by Hillary Clinton, then his rival for the Democratic nomination and now his Secretary of State, in calling on George W Bush to boycott the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony in protest at the bloody repression of a popular uprising in Tibet.

Hopefully the Althouse commenters who think that BHO is an ineffective, overrated blather machine can see the truly profound emptiness of the Dali Lama. This does assume that these commenters have suffered through some of the Dali Lama's presentations (that are packed w/ adoring sycophants).

I have friends who really liked this guy, some even met w/ him in Nepal. But, when I pointed out how overrated he is (e.g. his stupid jokes that receive huge laughs) these folks couldn't mount a defense. They basically came to agree w/ me. I've never seen folks fold that fast.

"Althouse commenters who think that BHO is an ineffective, overrated blather machine can see the truly profound emptiness of the Dali Lama. This does assume that these commenters have suffered through some of the Dali Lama's presentations (that are packed w/ adoring sycophants)."

At first the out pouring of Althouse-conservative love for the Dali Lama was hard to understand.

But, I've cracked to code. Conservatives like him because (from a distance) he's the perfect symbol for tough-talk-ass-kickin'-jabb[er]ing the ChiComs (which is comforting because where the rubber hits the road conservatives' actions probably include furnishing a good chunk of their domestic lives w/ Chicom stuff). And, it goes w/o saying that the lefty loons like him because he is himself loon.

That guy has carved out the sweet spot in geo-politics. Nice gig--if you can get it.

I wonder how long it is before some folks that have long objected to US world power wish we were more like the old cowboys we once were ...

Me too. But I have to say, sometimes the petty side of me wants to hang Western Europe out to dry: If they hate us so much, then let them try going it alone.

I really hated that we pulled that missile defense plan in Eastern Europe. It sometimes seems they are the only ones who understand what it means to lose your freedom, and who truly appreciate the "military umbrella" that we provide so much of the world.

Western Europe just bitches about us. I wouldn't mind seeing them have to sacrifice some of their cushy social programs to chip in a little bit toward world peace.

OT: does anyone watch "Modern Family"? Just watched it on hulu tonight. So great. First time I've laughed out loud at a sitcom since Seinfeld.

And what is the name of the Spiritual Leader of Taiwan? If we will sell out Tibet then it's a safe we will also sell out Taiwan, who are after all a bunch of dirty Capitalists. This must be an Onion article for sure, or we have an Onion Presidential plant.

"conservatives respect the Dalai Lama as a symbol of resistance to Communism"

I think I covered that, sans the self deluding euphemisms.

BTW, he is a total loon, not just a bit. I'm sure I've suffered through more of him than almost all conservatives. Seriously, if you think BHO is bad, you would be completely floored by this guy's loon level. I have to assume smart folks in the halls of power (on both sides of the political fence) know that this guy is all hype for the masses.

Oh come now. Just as Manifest Destiny gave America license to conquer our land from the Atlantic to the Pacific, surely the Han Chinese, as the dominant culture of East Asia, have the right to conquer any peoples they encounter at least up to the Himalayas and the Pamirs. In refusing to meet with the Dali Lama, President Obama is subtly undermining the idea of American exceptionalism by showing that even that most American of sentiments, might makes right, is in fact a human universal and that the aspirations of the Han Chinese are every bit as worthy as those of our forefathers. For an American president to meet with the Dali Lama would be like the French meeting with Sitting Bull. I, for one, celebrate the president's oblique celebration of America and China's shared idea of Manifest Destiny and the promise it holds for bringing us all closer together.

(God help you if you need to be told, but just in case, this is sarcasm.)

You forget the Chavez book. And that he hates America (so sayith Rush) and he hates Whitie (so sayith Glenn). And, his wife hates Whitie too (so sayith not yet revealed secret video, but it's only been a year, it'll come out any day).

Obama is just seeing more consequences than post-Nixon Republicans, Carter and Bill Clinton did for destroying US industry and sending it to China under the Mantra of "Free Trade for Freedom Lovers!!" mixed in with lies beginning with Reagan that "The US will keep all the good jobs and consumers will win...and that exciting high tech jobs would replace all the lost jobs.."

Along with stupid jingoism that "The American worker can outproduce anyone in the world!!"

The Ruling Elites of both Parties didn't believe that shit. It was just a way to richly reward their wealthy co-Elitists with huge profit margins from cheapening labor costs.

From Carter and the Trilateralists to Reagan and Bretton Woods II and onwards, none anticipated how fast the forces they unleashed would gut America of good jobs, sell out the worker. Flood in tens of millions of illegals and illegal's spawn now bankrupting & ruining whole states. And put us trillions in debt to a country that pre-Carter, owned two changes of clothers per family and couldn't even make a knockoff Ginsu knife that was any good.

Now we have to defer to CHina on matters, just as we once made Britain and France lick our boots when we were a creditor nation instead of a wastrel. And on matters far more important than a now-irrelevant former leader of a People that lived in squalor. Be happy the People with the Dollars and ability to out-compete us kept it cheap - the over-worshipped Dalai Lama...(Who is fated to go the way of Hapsburgs in exile, Arab kings in exile, ousted Marxist dictators from Africa living in -30 DEG Moscow while being pronounced "heroes" at Parties of top Soviets - all feted by cultural elites for their lifetime - but knowing their influence and deference would wane with each new year and that they or their children would never again hold office..

Revenant said... "Very sad. Is this as bad as Gerald Ford refusing to meet with Solzhenitsyn? Not as bad? Worse?"

The Dalai Lama is a deposed aristocrat. Solzhenitsyn was a leading Russian dissident. Obama's behavior isn't even remotely as bad as Ford's.

Just because someone is a "leading dissident" doesn't make them right or even someone the US should embrace for the sake of expediency. Witness Ahmed Chalabi, "leading Iraqi dissident", the Neocons grew to love and hand on his every word.

In Solzhenitsyn's case, he deeply distrusted Democracy and freedom!!! and more believed in a spiritual, authoritarian leader.

Before he died, he became a huge fan of Vladimir Putin. Who Solzhenitsyn pronounced as the hero who would save Russia from the corruption of Jewish oligarchs, from the false lure of egalitarian democracy, and the decay of spirit and soul that made him hate the West so - in his recent books.

Maguro is, of course, wrong. Those "Free Tibet" stickers you've seen were simply part of a Rethuglican campaign. The true liberals and defenders of liberty have always had a "U.S. Hands off Tibet" sticker or its relative "Free Tibet from U.S. Hegemonical Oppression".

But, seriously, complaints about China mean nothing if you support "free" trade or its supporters.

"It's not to keep China happy, it's to keep his ideological comrades happy."

Bingo.

He's a straight up Marxist. Anyone can see it and he has said as much himself when complaining that the Warren Court wasn't radical enough for holding with the Founders positions on negative rights instead of promoting wealth redistribution and "social and economic justice".

The stupid brain dead left will endlessly mock us for calling President God Damn America out for being a commie racist America hating son of a bitch but that is exactly what he is. Using that description as a template everything he does is utterly predictable.

Though the answers to both would be the same. The current Dalai Lama, being a Buddhist and all, is not about to get all Matthew 10:34. ("I come not to bring peace, but a sword.")

China has got Tibet locked down tight. All the bumper-stickers on all the rusty Subarus in all the college towns in America can't change that. That does not obviate the fact that the Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of millions. The snub is pure realpolitik at its most callous level.

wv = vinsac The bag that's inside the box of wine. There had to be a word for that!

You can't have guts when you are an empty-suit and a fraud now can you. I mean, afterall, he's just playing up to his stereotype. He's the golden child, a man descendant from his zebra masters. A guy who once said that if you can't take care of your brothers then you are nothing. And off in the distance you can hear it, like a clarion call to pay heed, the words that can never be uttered but where, "You Lie!" rings off in the distance.

peter hoh, the plane involved in the Hainan Island incident was eventually returned to the US and returned to service. That's Bush's diplomacy. In contrast, the USS Pueblo is now a touristattraction in Pyongyang.

I guess every President since and including Lyndon Johnson has been a wimp. That ship should not be where it is.

============

"The liberal media totally refused to cover her recent speech in which she offered her unconditional support to the Tibeten people"

You mean the speech she delivered in on Sept 23 in Hong Kong? The one in which the only mention of Tibet was in this paragraph?

China, along with Russia, has repeatedly undermined efforts to impose tougher sanctions on Iran for its defiance of the international community in pursuing its nuclear program. The Chinese food and product safety record has raised alarms from East Asia and Europe to the United States. And, domestic incidents of unrest -- from the protests of Uighurs and Tibetans, to Chinese workers throughout the country rightfully make us nervous.

I don't care to see an American politician endeavoring to foment revolution in Tibet. Now, that would be nutty. Leave such things to the Lord Byron or Che Guevara types.

"But, I've cracked to code. Conservatives like him because (from a distance) he's the perfect symbol for tough-talk-ass-kickin'-jabb[er]ing the ChiComs (which is comforting because where the rubber hits the road conservatives' actions probably include furnishing a good chunk of their domestic lives w/ Chicom stuff). And, it goes w/o saying that the lefty loons like him because he is himself loon."

In truth, the lefties don't know a thing about the Dalai Lama. If they did, they would be appalled to learn that he is a celibate (just like the pope), that he is against gay marriage (just like the pope) and finds homosexuality to be "disordered" just like the pope; that he in in some ways more conservative than the pope.

And in truth, the righties don't know anything about the Dalai Lama except that Obama dissed him and that's a bad thing.

In this case, I hate to say it, but Americans are pretty ignorant, and simply using the holy man for their own political pointmaking.

Peter, "keeping China happy" is not the job of anyone in the U.S. government. Unilateral gestures are an open declaration of both foolishness and weakness in foreign relations (with the minor exceptions of obvious largess from a great power to a weak country, or between friendly permanent allies). They are not a deposit in a bank of gratitude.

I can tell you exactly what Bush got for his apology letter, and I conclude it was a reasonable deal. Tell me what Obama got from the Chinese for snubbing the Dalai Lama, and I'll tell you whether it was a reasonable deal, too.

Mind you, I'm no partisan of Obama, not at all, but he is merely an aspirant, still in training, for the Olympic team of appalling Presidents, while Bush won the gold every time out.

As for the other guy here who reviled Obama for being a "marxist," a "god damned marxist" I think he said, you're running neck and neck with Windbag...Obama is, as were his predecessors, the hireling of the monied owners of America, somewhat less overtly brutish and stupid, perhaps somewhat more measured, but he is doing what he was hired to do: making sure those with great wealth continue to accrue greater wealth.

I guess I'm just amazed at the mimes of the left. The whole "Free Tibet" movement was a feel-good thing for leftists; now that Teh One™ has abandoned the Dalai Lama for his 30 pieces of silver, the left instantly reverses its course to say how bad the Lama is and how irrelevant Tibet is.

And in truth, the righties don't know anything about the Dalai Lama except that Obama dissed him and that's a bad thing.

I think I saw a movie about him once : ) (in addition to the Free Tibet sticker someone gave me in College).

I am mainly concerned here because a) China always looks like it's going to gobble up the little countries and b) I'm concerned about the motives here and whether this has anything to do with our mounting debt. We don't want to be beholden to China of all people.

There's an opposition in many of the comments between communism and capitalism.

However, communism is just state-run capitalism.

In Smithian capitalism the role of the state is to make sure that business practices are on the up and up.

In communist capitalism the role of the state is to take over all business practices, so there is no separation watchdog to make sure there is a balance in all the checks. The government is both the sole corporation and the one that silences any watchdogs in communism.

Communism and capitalism are both capitalist, but in the former the government and the corporations are one and the same thing.

The Dalai Lama has never read Adam Smith. If he had he could possibly enlighten Obama, IF Obama would let him talk to him.

A fairly common theory on both sides of the political spectrum is that wealthy Elites moved into power after Watergate and have dominated US trade, immigration, economic policy since them....to the detriment of the US worker and the fiscal strength of America. That for 35 years Americans have not really had an effective vote about Free Trade for Freedom Lovers!!, job outsourcing, levels of immigration pushed on us - because it is all directed towards huge wealth gains to the Elites and a global lowering of high wages - masked only by geometrically expanding debt,

Leading to where we are today - an uncompetitive debtor nation with China as the nervous backer of our currency and continuity of government funding.

Part of that "bargain" with the Ruling Elites is that US rulers now have to dive for the phone if Beijing is in the line because Chinese power has also geometrically multiplied along with our debt. Anything that pisses off the moneymen has to be weighed very, very carefully.

In the new big scheme of things, Tibet has to be lowered on the list of priorities, considerably.

Especially considering Tibet's past.Through most of history, Tibet was a vassal State to China. The Chinese invasion, cultural eradications of temples, etc in the 50s and early 60s remain a black eye. As does the Han races aggressive, Borg-like spread..which has also been tried and repelled with necessary shedding of Han blood in the Koreas, Vietnam, Indonesia. IN Tibet, unlike the Zionist Settlers in Occupied Palestine...the world has concluded that it is both odious but has brought immense benefit to the People.

The peasantry, the 95% of the population brutally repressed by the Dalai Lama and his aristocracy - has seen a doubling in life expectancy. Gone from illiteracy to mass literacy in two generations, and seen a tripling or quadrupling in their standard of living since the 70s.

I'm in the The Dalai Lama is a complete ass and fraud camp. The notion of supporting him and a Free Tibet is a complete contradiction of terms. Revenant is wrong; the Dalai Lama isn't a deposed aristocrat, he's a deposed dictator. This is NOT a freedom loving man. Moreover, the man is a Chauncy the Gardner idiot. His own belief that he's above it all while having every need catered to by sycophants would make him a very dangerous "leader."

And I'd add to patm that at least the Pope is chosen by his peers after a lifetime of accomplishment. The Dalai Lama was a little boy when he was chosen. I don't see any reason he should be given any deference (although he does have the loyalty of millions of Tibetans, deserved or not).

Joe wrote of the Dalai Lama:His own belief that he's above it all while having every need catered to by sycophants would make him a very dangerous "leader."

And how is this different than any other leader? If you're in a position of power, whether its the head of a state or the head of a company you have your needs catered to and are surrounded by sycophants trying to get your ear.

C-fudd, apparently now a slave to the Joooish-Bolshevik conspiracy, writes:

"IN Tibet, unlike the Zionist Settlers in Occupied Palestine...the world has concluded that it is both odious but has brought immense benefit to the People.

The peasantry, the 95% of the population brutally repressed by the Dalai Lama and his aristocracy - has seen a doubling in life expectancy. Gone from illiteracy to mass literacy in two generations, and seen a tripling or quadrupling in their standard of living since the 70s."

Have you ever compared the life expectancy of Palestinians pre-1967 to today? Or their literacy and infant mortality rates? Or compared them to the rest of the Islamic world - say Iran?

By the way, Fudd, how long are you going to keep lying about your age? You pretend to be a generation X'er, or even Y'er (my money's on XXY) but in reality you are an aging boomer.